The mare stood idly in front of a large door, head tilted to the side as she studied the odd entrance with a look of curiosity. Looking to her left, she found what appeared to be a control pad, and raising a brow at the door, she pulled a lever down. She was met with silence, and as she turned to try forcing her way in, she suddenly grit her teeth and arced her back as a very loud grinding noise met her ears.

Looking toward the door with annoyance, she clamped her hooves over her ears as it slowly retracted into the room behind it, sliding like a barrel to her left and out of view. Smirking to herself, she adjusted the rifle on her back, breathed a sigh of relief, and cast a glance behind her, finding a barricaded door blocking a very pissed off group of raiders from getting to her. Turning her head, she walked through the door, with a laugh, "Heh. I wonder what that 106 means...."

His boots sploshed against the pool of blood audibly, the sickening sound resonating throughout the abandoned cave. Soon enough, the sound resonated eight more times, signifying the man's company as they proceeded through the cave toward where they assumed their objective to be.

A long trail of bodies pointed them in the right direction, but as they approached a raider- lying on the floor, arms spread- the company found a scrap of paper crudely taped to the man's head-

wait, scratch that. A nail was firmly lodged in the raider's skull, pinning the now apparent note to his forehead in a very gruesome manner. Bending over to examine it, one of the men read it aloud,

Haha, too slow assholes! I'll be long gone by the time you get this, just try following me! It'll end horribly for you, I'll bet you the ten bottlecaps I stuffed in this guy's asshole.

Turning his head to the men standing behind him, he walked to the closest one and wiped his hand on the black surface of his armor. Grunting in annoyance, the soldier rolled his eyes beneath his Hellfire helmet, returning to his at-attention position, quickly grasping his plasma rifle and standing tall.

"Alright ladies!" the officer began, pacing back and forth in front of the squad with a feeling of authority, "thanks to the combined efforts of Private Sulley and Private Michael, we've missed our objective by a landslide."

"Sir!"

Glaring at the man in the center of the line, the officer spat, "What is it Corporal?!"

"Sir! Haven't we been informed that our target is an equine, sir?"

The man leered at him, "No shit, corporal! Make your fucking point. Quick."

"Sir, equines have hooves! If they walk through this mud, they're bound to leave footprints, er, hoofprints, sir! I recommend we look for and follow them, sir!"

Raising a hand, the officer patted the corporal on his helmeted noggin, "Let's get to it, ladies! Pack up, we're leaving!"

"Sir yes sir!"

The officer rolled the left sleeve of his uniform up, revealing a metallic device strapped to his wrist. Tapping a few buttons, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small chip, inserting it into a slot located near his hand. Lightly touching the Pip-Boys screen, he began to report, "Brigadier!"

Silence was his only answer for two heartbeats until a grim voice replied back, "Yes, lieutenant?"

"Sir, we discovered the previous whereabouts of the target-"

"Previous, lieutenant?"

"Uh, yes sir. It has departed from this location, but it has left a trail as to where it went. Permission to follow, sir."

"...of course, lieutenant. Do not come back without it, however. Or else," suddenly, the screen became blank, leaving the officer to replace his sleeve, about-face, and begin commanding his troops to follow the trail towards their target.

The crosshairs hovered over the hatted officer's head as he and his group exited the secluded cave, taking a swift left and continuing east. Bringing his Victory rifle to his chest, the man cursed, looking down at his Pip-Boy with a look of aggravation. Pulling up the map, he looked back at the squad, who walked in a straight line toward-

"Oh shit...."

Putting the strap over his chest with a grunt of pain, Carter leapt off the rock he previously sat on, sliding down the ledge and falling to the ground below. His knees taking the full blunt, he grit his teeth for one second before straightening himself, "Dammit, that shit's hell on my knees..."

Reaching into his duster's pocket, he pulled out a magnum, opening the cylinder with a straight face. Pushing the crude button on the side, he cycled through it, placing two bullets into the empty spaces of the revolver, closing its habitat with a flick of his wrist. The faded, light blue paint coating the firearm caught his attention, and he suddenly remembered who it belonged to. He had forgotten in the past month about the pistol he had collected from the ground of his house that day, as he rarely ever needed to use his duster's inside pocket.

Fishing through the pouches strapped to his chest, he found a small leather holster, placing the firearm inside it with a grin. Buckling it around his waist, he looked toward the slowly rising run, the silhouettes of the Enclave pretenders blocking his full view.

"I'll find you Dash. I will."

Author's Note

I apologize if the quality of this has gone down somewhat. I'm still dealing with personal issues, and if it's affecting these chapters, I might have to stop for awhile. I hope you understand.